Behind the Smoke

Let me paint a picture for you. Imagine yourself in a big, open, empty field. Look up at the sky where the sun, clouds and even rain usually live. There are only clouds. Just grey clouds. No sun on your skin, no bees, butterflies, no signs of life, just clouds. Clouds and fog. The fog is thick, almost wet, and it surrounds you, covering every direction. But there is a TV screen in front of you. The TV screen quietly displays a field with green grass, a beautiful tree, clouds in the sky and beautiful monarch butterflies flying everywhere. This is better, let’s choose to look at this instead. But, you feel the fog on your skin, and it whispers to you. It’s whispering promises to you. This is what modern consumption is. Like the fog and the screen, it surrounds you, keeping you in one place, stagnant. Eyes glued to the screen. Each new release, every ad, the new children tv shows, all give the same thing, a promise of satisfaction, but you will never be satisfied. Same way you will never make it out of the fog, if you do not start walking now. Take your eyes off of the screen.

Did you know that the average U.S. household has over 300,000 items? We keep consuming, and buying, then throwing away. We are using resources at 1.7 times the earth’s regeneration capacity. According to the research website Greenly, we are borrowing resources from the future, not giving the world time to catch up with us. Did you know that overconsumption helps drive climate change? The more we consume, the more buildup on textile waste we have, causing overflowing landfills. The plastic bags we toss our purchases in, are only used for an average of 12 minutes, and can take up to 1,000 years to decompose. Not only are we mistreating the planet we live on, but we are wasting these resources that could be used to help those who need it more than us.

You do not need to buy the same Starbucks cup for the 15th time, in a different color. If you can help it, reuse your belongings. Participate in yard sales. Shop second hand, donate what you are not using, or potentially start downsizing. We actually need so much less than is advertised to us. We can adjust our mindsets as well. Due to capitalism, we have mixed up our “wants” and our “needs.” Before you buy, do you need it? Do you already have something similar? Why do you want it? That being said, your money is your own, and you can do whatever you want with it. Although, every purchase has consequences we prefer not to see.